We three queens are out to win on RuPaul’s show

• Reprints

Phi Phi O'Hara has gigs at Spin and eye doctor's office.

‘RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE’

Season four premiere 8 to 9:30 p.m. Monday on Logo

Article Extras

Updated: March 1, 2012 8:18AM

Break out the Bedazzler and pop the lid off that lipstick.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is revving up for its fourth flamboyant season, and a trio of Chicago queens are in the running for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.”

A total of 13 over-the-top contestants will rock crazy costumes on the runway, face off in wacky challenges and lip sync for their lives in the showdown for $100,000 and a spot on the queen’s throne. Along the way, they’re virtually guaranteed to be made fun of on a weekly basis by Joel McHale on “The Soup.”

“You’re going to see a lot of catfighting and drama,” a local drag queen who calls herself the Princess said about season four, airing on MTV Networks’ LGBT-themed channel, Logo. “It’s like boot camp for drag. Everybody’s stressed out and at their wits’ end. By the fourth or fifth day we were already pulling our hair out.”

The field narrows each week, with the eliminated contestant being told to “sashay away” by the world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul. Guest judges this season include Elvira, Kelly Osbourne, John Salley, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Dan Savage.

As RuPaul says, “Gentlemen, start your engines, and may the best woman win!”

DiDa Ritz

Boy name: Zavier Hairston.

This Michigan native moved to Chicago straight out of high school nine years ago. DiDa’s dad is a pastor.

“He’s excited about watching me on television,” said DiDa, 26, adding that it wasn’t easy to come out to the family at first. “It’s tough when you’re young and you realize, ‘I’m gay and I need to tell my parents.’ It’s even more tough when you have to tell your parents you do drag.”

DiDa has a regular performing gig Wednesdays at Hydrate nightclub in Boystown. She describes her drag style as having “a street edge with a touch of glamour; the kind of girl who comes from a rough neighborhood but makes it rich and famous.”

DiDa knows her way around a sewing machine — a handy skill on the show, where contestants have to get creative with their costumes.

She likes living in Rogers Park because it’s “quiet and peaceful.” But you won’t catch her walking around her ’hood in drag.

“Maybe if I lived in Lake View I could do that but not in Rogers Park,” DiDa said. “The funny thing is, I think in Rogers Park you’d have to deal more with stalkers who would fall in love with you than people who think you’re crazy.”

Phi Phi O’Hara

Boy name: Jaremi Carey.

Phi Phi’s been watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — with frustration — since season one.

“I see all these people complaining that they can’t do this, that and the other,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Then you weren’t ready for the show.’ I do my own hair, my makeup and my costumes. I sing. I dance. You name it, I do it.”

She can even help you see straight, so to speak. She’s a certified optician who works for an eye doctor by day. At night, the 26-year-old Wicker Park resident often can be found doing her thing at Spin in Boystown.

“They really appreciate the queens, which I like,” said Phi Phi, whose passion is singing.

Phi Phi grew up in Texas and moved to Chicago three years ago. She calls herself the “fiercest” of all 13 contestants. As for her drag style: “Phi Phi is girly but she likes to have a little bit of edge, a little punk flair to her.”

She had hoped to be on the show last season but that didn’t work out.

“I was dating a guy and he didn’t want me doing it,” Phi Phi said. “It was a blessing in disguise. I’m glad I waited.”

The Princess

Boy name: Adam.

Tattooed, punk and proud, the Princess will be 14 years old in February.

“That’s how long I’ve been doing drag,” she said. (Her alter ego Adam, however, will turn 33.)

Friends and family routinely told her to try out for the show, so she did.

“I was so excited to see [RuPaul] in person,” said the Princess, whose castle is in Wrigleyville. “She was an idol of mine ever since I was a little boy.”

One thing the Princess wasn’t looking forward to: singing.

“I don’t sing,” she said. “I was a little nervous about that. In a previous season they had to rap. I can barely lip sync rap.”

This Spin performer’s drag style is “all over the board — avant-garde, androgynous at times,” she said. “I have such a wide variety of looks and mannerisms.”

She works with fashion in her day job, too, as a manager at Belmont Army clothing boutique in Lake View.

What would the Princess do if she won the $100,000 grand prize?

“When I win the $100,000 of course I’m going to spend a little on myself,” said the Omaha, Neb., native. But she’d also like to treat her parents and stepparents to something special in return for their unwavering support over the years. “Maybe fly them to Costa Rica or pay their mortgage for a month. I’d love to do that for them.”